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were hugely different in both.
In my current district, we don't "do" holidays, although there may be some primary art projects. I know that the 3rd graders at my K-8 school make "gingerbread" houses from graham crackers.
We don't dress in costume at Halloween, or have "parties." Primary classes may include stories, crafts, or music to go with cultural celebrations.
In my previous district, our contract required us to have one class "party" each year, but if we did not have a party for halloween, xmas, valentine's day, and easter, parents would rise up in outrage and descend on the office, determined to force the party. The administration organized a school-wide costume parade on halloween, everyone was expected to put on a christmas program of some kind, and admins put the pressure on grinchy teachers like myself who did not want to engage in activities that excluded some students, who would either stay home or have to be sent somewhere else because their families' faiths didn't allow participation.
So, in that district, I did a fall/harvest festival the last week of October, which included square dancing, making scare crows, and all kinds of reading, writing, and math activities involving pumpkins, cranberries, etc.. Some of us negotiated the costume parade with the principal and it became a "storybook character" parade, with everyone participating dressing as a character in a book, and bringing the book to the parade. For several years, I had an indoor garden, and we "harvested" our indoor crops to make soup and salad for that festival.
In December, I had a great musical play that I, and a few colleagues, put on every 3 or 4 years; it involved Santa, a manger, Kwanza, Hanukkah, and Las Posadas. It took a great deal of time and work, though, so we didn't do it every year. It stayed fresher that way, too. Other years, we would make stuff to help decorate a local float for the local holiday parade, and practice secular winter holiday music. We'd sing and march in the local parade behind the float.
For Valentine's Day, I always did a poetry-writing unit, and a unit on mathematical symmetry. They were allowed to give Valentines that they handmade in class. No cardboard cutouts or candy. That still pissed off enough people that I was always overwhelmed with the amount of emotional energy and attachment people give to basic commercial marketing systems.
For spring, the week before spring break, we'd learn about pysanky, reading "Rechenka's Eggs." It's a great art project.
I'm glad that I now teach someplace that, using common sense, expects local cultural celebrations to happen outside school hours. We can acknowledge the seasons without being taken over by them.
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